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MISS 


Idyls  of  the  Missions 

Franciscan  Dynasty 
California 
1769-1833 


A   BROCHURE 

BY 

CLARICE  GARLAND 

Author  of  Ysabella;  or.  The  International  Marriage 


Copyright  1917 
All  rights  reserved  by  the  Author 


GEO.  W.  MOYLE  PUBLISHING  CO. 

337  East  Third  Street 
Long  Beach,  Cal. 


•  V   -;•     ..." 


Idyls  of  the  Missions 


Ix  THE 


Reign  of  the  Franciscan  Dynasty 

Over  21  Missions  on  the  King's  Highway 

700  Miles  of  Spanish  California 

1769-1833. 


CONTENTS 

ESTABLISHMENT    AND   PROSPERITY   OF    THE 
CALIFORNIA  MISSIONS. 


The   Act   of   Seculari/ation,   or   the   Cause   of   the   Decline   and 
Ruin  of  the  California  Missions. 


A  Soldier  of  tin-  Cross  —  1769.  Mission  San  Diego  de  Alcala. 
A  Wedding  Journey  —  1830.       Mission  San  Luis  Rey  de  Fran- 


Bells  of  Capistrano  —  1812. 

Saint   Gabriel  —  1831. 

The  Wedd'ng  Bell  Gift—  1831 

Winepress  of  Life  —  1833. 

Pageant  of  the  Night  —  1833. 
Spirit  Sweet   \Vaters-1830. 
Sentinel  of  Monterey  —  1784. 


Mission 
Mission 

Nuestra 

Angeles. 

Mission 
Espafia. 

Mission 
Mission 

Mission 
melo. 


San  Juan  Capistrano. 
San   Gabriel  Arcangel. 
Senora    Reina    de   Los 

San   Fernando  Rey   de 

San    Buenaventura. 
Santa  "Barbara. 
San  Carlos  de  Rio  Car- 


365863 


CALIFORNIA  MISSIONS  IN  ORDER  OF  LO- 
CATION FROM  SOUTH  TO  NORTH. 


Mission   San   Diego   de    Alcala,    near   San   Diego    (5m) 

founded    1769 

Mission  Santa  Ysabel,  west  San  Diego  (25m)  founded  1822. 
Mission  San  Luis  Rey  de  Francia,  Oceanside,  founded  1798. 
Parish  Church  San  Antonio  de  Pala,  Fallbrook  (2m) 

founded    1771 

Mission  San  Juan  Capistrano,  Capistrano   founded 1775. 

Mission    San    Gabriel    Areangel,    Los    Angeles     (14m) 

founded    1771 

Parish  Church,  Senora  Reina  de  los  Angeles,  Los  Angeles 

founded    1781 

(Our  Lady  Queen  of  the  Angels) 
Mission  San  Fernando  Rey  De  Espafia,  Fernando   (2m) 

founded    1797 

(Saint  Ferdinand,  King  of  Spain) 

Mission  San  Buenaventura,  Ventura,  founded 1782 

Mission  Santa  Barbara,  Santa   Barbara,  founded 1786 

Mission  La  Purisima  Concepcion,  Lompoc  (3m)  founded     1787 

Mission  Santa  Ynez,  Los  Olivos,    (12m)    founded 1804 

/       Mission  San  Luis   Obispo   de   Tolosa,   San  Luis   Obispo 

founded    1772 

(Saint   Luis   of   Tolosa) 

Mission  San  Miguel,  San  Miguel,  founded 1797 

(Saint    Michael) 

i        Mission  San  Antonio  de  Padua,  King  City  (26m)  found- 
ed         1771 

(Saint  Anthony  of  Padua) 
Mission   Nuestra   Senora   de   la   Soledad,   Soledad    (4m) 

founded    1791 

(Our  Lady  of  the  Solitude) 
Mission  San  Carlos  de  Rio  Carmelo,  Monterey    (6m)....     1771 

(Saint  Charles  of  the  River  Carmel) 
Parish   Church,    San   Carlos   Borromeo,    Monterey    (6m) 

founded    1770 

Mission  San  Juan  Bautista,  Sargent   (6m)   founded 1797 

(Saint  John  the  Baptist) 

Mission  Santa  Cruz,  Santa  Cruz,  founded 1791 

Mission  San  Jose,  Irvington  (3m)   founded 1797 

(Saint  Joseph) 

Mission  Santa  Clara,  Santa  Clara,   founded 1777 

Parish   Church   San  Francisco   D'Assisi,   San   Francisco 

founded    1776 

(Saint  Francis  of  Assisi)    (Also  known  as  Dolores) 

Mission  San  Rafael  Arcangel,  San  Rafael,  founded 1817 

(Saint  Raphael  Arcangel) 
Mission  San  Francisco  Solano,   Sonoma,  founded 1823 


ESTABLISHMENT     AND     PROSPERITY     OF 
THE  CALIFORNIA  MISSIONS. 


To  those  who  view  the  ruins  of  the  master-pieces  of 
architecture,  the  California  missions,  they  speak  a 
various  language.  To  the  casual  eye  they  speak  of 
neglect  and  decay  and  the  onlooker  hastens  away  to 
modern,  finished  buildings  suggesting  present  use  and 
pleasure,  having  gratified  a  curiosity  to  see  the  poetic 
monuments  of  a  past  century. 

To  the  thoughtful  eye  the  California  missions, 
standing  in  august  grandeur,  speak  of  indomitable 
courage  and  exalted  religious  zeal  of  the  architects, 
the  Spanish  missionaries,  in  hewing  their  way  through 
a  wilderness,  enduring  great  hardships,  traveling  on 
foot  five  hundred  miles  from  the  beautiful  bay  they 
named  San  Diego  to  the  splendid  harbor  they  named 
San  Francisco  in  honor  of  Saint  Francis  the  Father 
of  their  Order. 

As  the  Franciscan  monks  reached  spots  favorable 
for  founding  a  mission  near  an  Indian  village  and 
fresh  water,  they  raised  the  Cress  and  the  banner  of 
Spain,  and  among  incredible  difficulties,  won  Cali- 
fornia for  Spain  and  eighty-five  thousand  Indians  to 
Christianity  in  the  twenty-one  missions  they  estab- 
lished and  fostered  for  sixty  years,  located  on  the  road 
they  made  and  named  El  Camino  Real  (the  King's 
Highway.) 

Thus  the  missionaries  secured  the  territory  of  Up- 
per California  and  its  fifty  thousand  savage  inhabi- 
tants for  the  crown  of  Spain,  a  task  which  soldiers 
alone  had  failed  to  accomplish  for  centuries  even  at 
enormous  cost,  proving  that  love  accomplished  that 
which  the  sword  failed  to  gain.  The  missionaries 
won  the  natives  by  kindness  and  forgiveness  and 
tan glit  them  to  venerate  the  Cross  and  love  God  and, 
by  exercising  strong  control  over  their  wards  like  ex- 
cellent schoolmasters,  prevented  such  massacres  as 
occurred  east  of  the  Colorado  River.  In  this  magni- 
ficient  achievement  the  missionaries  were  not  only 
messengers  of  the  Gospel  but  captains  of  industry 
through  Christianity.  Before  the  friars  arrived,  the 


land  produced  nothing  save  acorns  and  wild  fruits. 
The  Fathers  brought  seeds  which  they  taught  the 
Indians  to  plant  in  orchards,  vineyards  and  fields 
which  soon  produced  olive  oil,  oranges,  grapes  and 
grain  while  their  animals  increased  to  vast  herds  and 
flocks.  With  instruction  in  religion  and  agriculture 
the  friars  taught  their  wards  arts  and  crafts  and  the 
sacred  music  of  the  Gregorian  chants  with  voice,  flute 
and  violin.  And  many  of  the  pueblos  or  towns,  pre- 
sidios or  forts,  rivers  and  bays  derived  their  names 
from  the  nearest  missions. 

During  sixty  years  the  missionaries  fed  and  clothed 
their  Indian  wards  and  the  troops  in  the  presidios 
of  the  whole  territory  to  the  value  of  half  a  million 
dollars  annually.  The  civil  and  military  authorities 
of  California  generally  refused  to  lend  moral  as- 
sistance for  transforming  savages  into  faithful  Christ- 
ians and  industrious  citizens.  These  otherwise  would 
have  been  a  thieving  and  savage  menace  to  the  white 
settlers  of  California.  The  friars  had  reared  and 
made  the  missions  prosperous  and  by  their  wise  gov- 
ernment proved  their  ability  to  maintain  them,  over- 
coming obstacles  of  the  guttural  Indian  language, 
their  heathen  orgies  and  ideas  of  a  sensual  heaven 
after  death. 

From  the  year  1769  to  1833  the  missionaries  of- 
fered the  only  encouragement  to  a  growing  and  profit- 
able commerce  and  aroused  the  interest  of  the  people 
of  foreign  countries  thousands  of  leagues  distant,  who 
sailed  to  California  to  exchange  hides, grain  and  tallow 
for  manufactured  goods  from  New  England,  Old  Eng- 
land and  China,  much  needed  in  the  territory  by  the 
missionaries  and  citizens  and  for  clothing  the  neo- 
phytes or  Christianized  Indians,  who  previously  ran 
about  clothed  in  nature's  raiment.  And  the  mis- 
sionaries who  induced,  directed  and  controlled  the 
wealth  of  the  missions,  having  taken  the  vow  of  pover- 
ty, claimed  no  luxury  for  their  own. 

The  conquest,  by  the  missionaries  of  the  savage  in- 
habitants of  California,  tells  a  story  of  heroism,  men- 
tal and  physical  exertion,  self-sacrifice,  incessant 
prayer  and  undying  love  in  the  service  of  God  as 
soldiers  of  the  Cross. 


THE   ACT  OF   SECULARIZATION,   OR  THE 

CAUSE  OF  THE  DECLINE  AND  RUIN 

OF  THE  CALIFORNIA  MISSIONS. 


In  1831  Governor  Jose  Maria  Echandia  sounded 
the  deathkiiell  of  the  missions  in  his  famous  procla- 
mations of  secularization,  or  confiscation,  of  these  es- . 
tablishmeiits.  He  claimed  to  follow  the  instructions 
of  the  Supreme  Government  in  Mexico  that  sent  him 
to  California  in  1825  for  this  purpose.  Why  he  de- 
layed until  his  successor  was  already  in  the  territory 
may  have  been  owing  to  his  disinclination  for  en- 
gaging the  Reverend  Fathers  of  undoubted  education 
in  the  laws  regarding  the  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  the  missions  and  incumbents,  in  debate. 

"Seiior  Echandia  knew  how  to  unite  and  identify 
his  position  as  comandante-general  in  the  territory, 
even  after  it  had  terminated,  with  indefinite  liberty 
and  emancipation  of  the  neophytes,  but  without  pro- 
viding against  the  deplorable  consequences  which  the 
whole  territory  experienced,  the  smaller  of  which  was 
the  ruin  of  the  missions  and  the  neophytes  themselves. 

"In  one  of  the  nine  articles  of  Echandia 's  procla- 
mation of  secularization  was  incorporated  the  law  of 
Mexico  which  decreed  the  expulsion  of  the  Spanish 
missionaries  of  Upper  California." 

This  act  would  give  more  freedom  in  confiscation. 

14  In  1830  Presidente  Bnstanante  of  Mexico  separat- 
ed the  two  Calif  ornias  and  appointed  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Manuel  Victoria  governor  of  Upper  California. 

"Ex-Governor  Echandia 's  hypocrisy  was  shown 
when  he  issued  his  decree  of  secularization  January 
six,  1831  at  Monterey,  long  after  his  notification  to 
turn  his  office  over  to  his  successor  who  was  within 
the  province.  The  bearer  of  the  dispatch,  turning 
San  (Jabriel  into  a  town  where  hundreds  of  neophytes, 
or  Christianized  Indians,  had  built  streets  of  adobe 
dwellings  for  their  families  near  the  mission,  had  to 
pass  the  real  governor  at  Santa  Barbara.  This  showed 
the  desperate  steps  the  ex-governor  was  prepared  to 
take  in  order  to  accomplish  his  scheme  of  plundering 


the  missions;  although  Echandia  and  his  conspirators 
were  blind  to  the  damage  which  the  decree  would  in- 
flict on  the  troops  in  the  presidios.  Comandante  San- 
tiago Arguello  of  San  Diego  foresaw  the  disastrous  ef- 
fect when  he  wrote  to  Echandia  that  the  status  of 
San  Gabriel  must  not  be  changed  because  the  supplies 
which  the  missionaries  furnished  were  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  troops  of  San  Diego." 

Enchandia  's  act  of  secularization  never  was  enacted 
into  a  law ;  for  on  the  arrival  of  Governor  Victoria 
in  Monterey  he  immediately  annulled  Echandia 's  de- 
cree ;  and  for  a  little  time  longer  the  missions  were 
left  undisturbed,  until  1835  when  Mexico  passed  the 
law  of  secularization  of  the  California  missions. 

"In  truth  the  blood  freezes  and  hairs  stand  on 
ends  at  the  bare  thought  of  the  eternal  memory  which 
would  remain  in  this  land  if  Seiior  de  Echandia  and 
the  young  Californians  had  obtained  full  control  and 
confiscated  the  mission  properties.  Anarchy  would 
have  reigned  as  in  Mexico,"  wrote  Father  Zephyrin 
Engelhardt,  author  of  Missions  and  Missionaries  of 
California. 

This  eminent  Spanish  historian,  Reverend  Father 
Zephyrin  Engelhardt,  O.  F.  M.,  Order  of  Franciscan 
Monks,  wrote  that  "The  Americans  came  none  too 
soon  to  prevent  the  final  desecration  of  the  missions. ' ' 
And  it  is  interesting  to  note  furthermore  that  he 
stated  the  following  paragraphs: 

"There  is  observable  an  inborn  reverence  among 
the  officers  of  the  United  States  army  and  navy  for 
houses  of  worship.  Such  atrocities,  such  profana- 
tions of  churches  and  sacred  vessels,  such  brutalities 
against  priests  and  nuns  as  the  Villistas  and  Car- 
ranzistas  at  present  perpetrate  in  Mexico,  would  be 
impossible  at  the  hands  of  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
regular  army  with  the  approval  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States." 

Father  Engelhardt  further  stated:  "In  February, 
1847,  eighty  men  were  detailed  from  the  United 
States  battalion  to  clean  up  the  plaza  of  San  Luis 
Rey,  containing  four  acres,  and  the  quarters  or  court- 
yard, and  rooms  in  the  monastery,  and  make  neces- 
sary repairs  which  were  done  in  good  order.  The 


commanding  officer  received  the  following  order  from 
Governor  Mascn,  (acting  Governor  Fremont  and  ap- 
pointed Governor  Kearney  having  retired.) 

"Should  any  Catholic  priests  come  to  Mission  San 
Luis  Rey,  you  will  not  only  cause  them  to  be  treated 
with  great  courtesy  and  kindness,  but  they  are  to 
have  any  apartments  they  may  desire  and  any  pro- 
duct of  the  mission  for  their  own  use  and  the  entire 
management  of  the  Indians.  You  are  placed  in 
charge  of  the  mission  property  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  guarding  it  from  desecration  and  waste  and 
are  expected  to  treat  the  missionaries  and  Indians 
with  great  courtesy  and  respect/' 

A  copy  of  the  following  interesting  letter  regard- 
ing San  Luis  Rey  is  appended  in  Father  Engelhardt's 
History  of  the  Missions.  Governor  Mason,  Colonel 
First  Dragoons,  wrote  to  Captain  Hunter  Sub-Indian 
Agent : 

"August  2,  1847. 

"It  must  have  excited  astonishment  in  both  the  In- 
dians and  missionaries  to  find  themselves  treated  with 
s>  much  consideration  by  "los  Protestantes, "  when 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  they  had  experienced 
scarcely  anything  but  arrogance  and  oppression  at 
the  hands  of  the  'household  of  the  Faith'  they  dis- 
graced. ' ' 

That  the  missionaries  accomplished  so  much  in  Cal- 
ifornia is  cause  for  wonder  in  the  thoughtful  mind. 
The  material  structures  they  raised  and  encompassed 
by  the  spiritual  forces  of  love  and  service  guided  the 
labor  of  the  missionaries  and  their  converts  to  as- 
tonishing results.  They  hewed  tall  trees  with  rough 
axes,  made  adobe,  or  sun-baked  bricks,  without  num- 
ber, lashed  the  rafters  with  rawhide  thongs  and 
raised  buildings  of  artistic  merit  without  use  of  nails 
or  modern  implements  of  architecture,  carved  mold- 
ings and  traceries  that  denoted  the  individual  taste 
of  the  neophytes,  with  unskilled  hands  of  former 
wild  men  and  their  descendants,  in  California  wild- 
ernesses. 

In  the  chain  of  historic  missions  of  California  were 
woven  the  heroism,  energy  and  pious  zeal  of  the  mis- 
sionaries with  the  spiritual  elevation  and  semi-civili- 


zation  of  the  Indians  (arrested  by  the  act  of  seculari- 
zation) in  the  eight-five  thousand  human  links  of  neo- 
phytes dedicated  to  the  Spirit  of  Religion.  Down  the 
ages  the  mild,  insistent  voices  of  the  teachers  echo 
in  red  men's  hearts  and  in  the  walls  and  cloisters  of 
their  exalted  ideals  in  the  monuments  we  now  cherish 
with  memories  of  a  patriarchal,  poetic  past. 


A  SOLDIER  OF  THE  CROSS. 


(First  Pioneer  of  California.) 

Junipero,  God's  pioneer,  behold! 

On  bended  knees  imploring  pardoning  grace; 

He  feels  himself  a  failure  long  untold, 

Entreats  and  pleads  high  heaven  with  saintly  face 

"One  baptism — God  grant  thy  servant  more, 

Ere  sailing  from  this  wild  and  fruitless  shore!" 

"Just  one  more  day,  Father,  I  humbly  pray! 
And  must  I  pray  in  vain?     Thy  mercy  spare, 
In  this  forsaken,  reckless,  heathen  sway ! ' ' 
Still  on  his  knees  in  constant,  zealous  prayer, 
Till  nightfall  came  and  then  glory  great, 
God's  answer  came  like  wondrous  story  late. 

Across  the  blue  Pacific's  vastness,  lo! 

A  ship,  like  great,  white  dove  with  olive  branch, 

Up  San  Diego  Bay  sailed  fair  and  slow. 

"To  God  be  thanks!     Our  famine  he  will  stanch. 

One  child  baptized  by  me — All  Hail  Marie ! 

The  sacred  Cross  points  e'er  my  faith  in  Thee." 


STORY  OF  JUNIPERO  SERRA. 


California,  that  magic  name  of  mythical  romance, 
was  given  by  the  courageous  explorer  Cortez  when 
he  discovered  and  claimed  this  coast  for  Spain  in 
1543.  For  two  centuries  California  basked  under 
a  southern  sky  and  the  blue  waters  of  the  Pacific 
washed  its  silvery  shore,  untrod  by  white  men. 

1769  Don  Galvez,  minister  of  colonization  for  Spain, 
arranged  an  expedition  from  Loreto  in  Lower  Cali- 
fornia to  Upper  California,  led  by  Governor  Portola 
and  soldiers  in  search  of  the  wonderful  harbors 
charted  by  Cortez  and  Viscaino,  accompanied  by  the 
eminent  engineer  Constanso  and  Father  Junipero 
Serra  who  was  appointed  to  establish  missions  with 
associate  friars  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  in- 
habitants to  Christianity. 

This  expedition  starting  at  Loreto  reached  the  mag- 
nificient  harbor  now  known  as  San  Francisco  after 
great  hardships,  crossing  mud-sinking  arroyos,  scal- 
ing dizzy  heights,  climbing  scarred  and  boulder- 
strewn  mountains  to  avoid  being  washed  into  the 
ocean,  sleeping  under  drenching  rains  and  enduring 
thirst  with  half-rations,  they  plodded  onward  with 
the  persistency  that  won  victory  over  great  obstacles. 
They  were  the  first  white  men  who  traversed  these 
smiling  lands. 

But  alas!  for  the  hopes  of  the  explorers,  their  ra- 
tions became  nearly  exhausted  and  Governor  Portola 
decided  to  return  to  Mexico  by  ship,  from  the  bay 
now  known  as  San  Diego,  before  more  of  his  ninety 
men  fell  ill  with  the  scurvy,  that  weakening  disease 
caused  by  the  lack  of  fresh  vegetables,  and  before  they 
had  reached  the  limit  of  their  food  supply.  He  ap- 
pointed a  day  that  the  ship  should  sail  south,  when 
Father  Serra,  who  was  camped  on  the  shore  of  the 
bay  near  the  locality  now  known  as  Old  Town,  San 
Diego,  went  on  board  the  •  caravel  and  begged  the 
governor  to  allow  a  little  more  time  before  sailing, 
hoping  the  relief  ship  which  Don  Galvez  had  promised 
to  send  (if  they  remained  in  California  beyond  a 
given  date)  to  them  and  which  was  daily  expected, 


would  appear.  Portola  was  firm  in  deciding  to  sail 
at  once,  having  given  up  hope  of  the  arrival  of  the 
ship  with  food  supplies. 

Father  Serra,  whose  heart  ached  with  love  and 
pity  for  the  savages  who  thronged  around  him  in 
their  ignorance  of  God  and  spiritual  welfare,  spoke 
these  memorable  words  of  undying  faith  and  courage 
when  he  declared:  "If  every  other  white  man  leaves 
this  desolate  shore,  I  will  stay  alone  and  teach  the 
savages  to  love  and  worship  God." 

' '  Nay, ' '  objected  Portola  ;  "  I  cannot  leave  you  in 
this  wilderness  hundreds  of  miles  from  Mexico  and 
civilization,  without  food  or  protection,  to  the  mercy 
of  these  cruel  and  ignorant  savages. ' ' 

Father  Serra  left  the  ship  and  went  on  shore  where 
under  the  boughs  of  trees  he  rang  the  Spanish  bells 
and  sang  a  mass  imploring  the  help  of  Saint  Joseph, 
foster  father  of  Jesus  and  patron  saint  of  the  expe- 
dition, praying  for  success  of  his  enterprise,  the  con- 
version of  souls. 

On  the  eventful  day  before  the  ship  was  to  sail, 
Father  Serra  arose  at  dawn  and  went  forth  on  a  hill- 
top where  the  presidio  afterward  was  established,  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  Jesus  in  the  wilderness,  and 
prayed  for  the  coming  of  the  relief  ship.  With  the 
cowl  of  his  coarse  brown  habit  thrown  back  and  his 
pale,  sensitive  face  haggard  with  anxiety  and  fasting, 
he  watched  and  prayed  through  the  long  hours  of  the 
day.  When  suddenly,  as  the  curtain  of  night  slowly 
descended  over  the  wild  western  shore,  a  ship  ap- 
peared sailing  slowly  up  the  bay  almost  like  a  mirage 
in  the  sky  to  his  amazed  vision.  Then  again  he  sank 
on  his  knees,  this  time  not  in  supplication  to  the  Most 
High,  but  in  thanksgiving  for  interceding  in  behalf 
of  his  cause. 

That  Father  Serra  remained  in  California  we  all 
know,  and  founded  the  first  mission,  San  Diego  de 
Alcala,  in  1769,  dedicated  to  its  patron,  Saint  James 
of  Alcala.  Happy  indeed  was  he  when  an  Indian 
child  was  brought  to  him  for  baptism,  thus  protecting 
the  babe  from  the  Powers  of  Evil.  Slowly  and  by 
overcoming  the  hostility  of  the  natives,  he  won  them 


by  love  and  kindness  to  become  his  pupils  in  the  study 
and  practice  of  religion.  He  was  in  deed  and  in 
truth  a  soldier  of  the  Cross,  and  first  pioneer  of  Cali- 
fornia, asking  no  other  reward  than  the  satisfaction 
of  having  saved  souls  to  God. 

.Mission  San  Diego  de  Alcala  was  established  near 
the  bank  of  the  river  which  derived  its  name  from 
the  mission,  six  miles  from  the  bay  of  the  same  name. 
The  missionaries  were  stockmen  and  traders  and  were 
the  first  customers  of  the  sailing  masters  who  ventur- 
ed around  the  howling  Horn. 

The  church  was  burnt  by  hostile  Indians  who  threw 
firebrands  on  the  roof.  This  edifice  was  afterward 
ivbuilt  and  the  wooden  rafters  covered  with  earthern 
tiles  invented  by  one  of  the  missionaries.  The  latter 
sanctuary  was  ninety  feet  in  length  and  flanked  a 
patio,  or  courtyard,  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet 
square  surrounded  by  storehouses,  shops  and  dormi- 
tories, and  the  remaining  space  by  an  adobe  wall  ten 
feet  in  height.  And  two  date  palms  lift  their  tufted 
heads,  like  ancient  seers  over  the  wrecks  of  time, 
planted  from  seeds  over  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years  ago  by  the  missionaries. 


A  WEDDING  JOURNEY. 


Among  the  Missions  quaint  and  olden, 
And  riding  through  the  morning  golden, 
The  governor's  stately  cavalcade 
Uprode  the  flowery  esplanade. 

At  Luis  Key's  white,  cloistered  pile, 
With  tower  like  Roman  campanile, 
The  governor  stayed  his  retinue, 
While  soldier  guards  their  cordon  drew. 

'Neath  high  and  wide-arched  colonnade, 
In  gown  and  cowl  the  monks  arrayed, 
With  swinging  cross  and  sandaled  feet, 
Walked  the  meek  path  of  Pride's  defeat. 

The  priests  received  with  kindly  token, 
Disciples  meek  and  gently  spoken, 
Donas  and  dons  with  governor  grand, 
Brides  and  captains  of  noble  stand. 

The  lovely  brides  with  husbands  brave 
Left  home  and  friends  northlands  to  save ; 
Bach  brought  a  love-gift  to  her  lord, 
More  rare  than  gems  from  India's  hoard. 

Still  northward  rode  the  happy  twain; 
The  bridegrooms  whistling  gay  refrain : 
Brides  lilted  songs  at  candle-light 
And  waltzed  into  the  fragrant  night. 

Ah !    Ne'er  was  wedding  journey  run 
And  drawn  to  close  at  set  of  sun, 
With  braver  grooms  or  fairer  brides, 
Since  Neptune  sang  the  ebbing  tides. 

But  monks  and  priests  of  sacred  fonts 
Respond  no  more  to  travelers'  wants: 
In  ruins  stand  the  crumbling  walls, 
Of  Missions  old,  once  bridal  halls. 


STORY  OF  THE  WEDDING  JOURNEY. 


At  San  Diego  occurred  the  double  wedding  of  Captain 
Romualdo  Pacheco  comandante  of  Presidio  de  Mon- 
terey with  Senorita  Carrillo  and  Lieutenant  Agustin 
Vicente  Zamorano  with  Senorita  Luisa  Arguello, 
daughter  of  the  comandante  de  Presidio  de  San  Diego. 

The  historian  Hittell  refers  to  this  double  wedding 
of  officers  and  daughters  of  officers  as  the  most  im- 
portant social  event  in  California  down  to  the  above 
date. 

After  the  elaborate  ceremony  of  the  double  wedding 
which  Governor  Echandia  attended  as  sponsor  for 
the  bridegrooms  and  the  citizens  of  the  surrounding 
countryside  attended  as  witnesses,  followed  by  a 
week's  celebration  in  prize  games,  rodeos,  balls,  din- 
ners and  dances,  the  happy  couples  rode  north  to 
Monterey,  over  six  hundred  miles  horseback  in  the 
governor's  cavalcade  with  retainers  of  leather-jacket- 
ed soldiers,  dons  and  donas  from  distant  haciendas 
who  attended  the  wedding  fiesta. 

Governor  Echandia  was  traveling  to  the  capital 
to  transact  official  business  .of  the  province  and  his 
company  w;;s  entertained  in  the  mission  establish- 
ments located  on  the  Kind's  Highway  and  at  the  ex- 
tensive ranches,  or  haciendas,  of  Don  Toinas  Yorba 
and  Don  Antonio  Dommguez.  The  vast •  Rancho  de 
Santa  Ana  was  a  grant  to  an  ancestor  of  the  Yorba 
family  as  a  soldier  in  valiant  service  to  the  Spanish 
crown.  This  extensive  rancho  consisted  of  leagues 
and  leagues  of  grazing  land  now  known  as  Orange 
County  and  other  tracts. 

After  the  fiesta  de  boda  or  wedding  feast  and  a 
»T<ind  ball  attended  by  hidalgoes,  officers  and  donas 
from  distant  pivsidu.-s  and  ranches,  the  governor's 
cavalcade  again  rode  north  to  Rancho  de  San  Pedro, 
the  home  of  Don  Antonio  Dominguez,  occupying 
many  leagues  north  of  the  Santa  Ana  River  to  San 
Pedro  Harbor  and  Santa  Monica,  also  a  grant  from 
tlie  Spanish  crown  as  reward  for  bravery  in  battle. 
Here  the  IVstive  Spaniards  escorted  Don  and  Dona 


Dominguez  to  their  spacious  adobe  home  built  around 
a  patio,  or  courtyard,  and  were  entertained  with 
lavish  hospitality. 

Money  had  no  value  to  these  overlords  in  pastoral 
California  unless  it  could  be  exchanged  for  silks  and 
velvets  and  other  articles  of  luxury  brought  in  the 
trading-ships  from  Lima,  China  and  New  England. 
There  were  no  shops  for  barter  and  sale,  but  the  taste 
for  rich  and  elegant  apparel  was  inherent  in  the  de- 
scendants of  Spanish  royalty,  and  in  their  chivalrous 
and  gracious  manners  were  seen  a  remarkable  dignity 
and  sense  of  honor. 

"By  the  beard  of  the  Prophet,"  this  hair  from  my 
beard  is  sufficient  guarantee  that  I  shall  pay  my  in- 
debtedness in  this  bill  of  goods  from  your  ship," 
quoth  a  Spanish  overlord  to  a  clerk  of  a  Boston  trad- 
ing-brig. And  the  captain  of  the  ship  was  much 
chargrined  and  very  angry  when  the  clerk  told  him 
that  he  had  presented  a  bill  of  lading  to  his  lordship 
for  payment. 

"These  Spaniards  always  pay  without  being  re- 
minded of  their  obligations,  their  sense  of  honor  is 
very  keen, ' '  reproved  the  shipmaster  sternly. 

"Yes,  sir,"  answered  the  astonished  clerk  meekly, 
who  thought  it  merely  a  matter  of  business  and  not 
an  insult  to  present  the  amount  of  goods  and  their 
price  to  the  purchaser.  And  the  values  of  the  vast 
herds  of  cattle  and  flocks  of  sheep  were  exchanged 
for  all  those  commodities  in  gratifying  a  sense  for 
articles  of  luxury. 

At  Mission  San  Luis  Rey  de  Francia  the  governor's 
cavalcade  stopped  the  first  night  of  the  wedding  jour- 
ney and  the  brides  and  grooms  gazed  on  the  placid 
waters  of  the  little  San  Luis  Rey  River,  and  over  the 
night's  enchanting  scenery  and  the  beautiful  white 
mission  with  its  Moorish  colonnade,  Roman  tower, 
arched  entrance  and  embrasured  facade  of  the  state- 
ly church  bathed  in  the  silvery  moonlight,  a  replica 
of  ancient  Spain.  Then  repeating  el  rosario  within 
the  sanctuary  they  partook  of  the  generous  hospitali- 
ty of  the  missionaries. 

The  brides,  of  course,  were  young  and  beautiful 
with  all  the  fascinations  of  graceful,  smiling  senori- 


tas.  And  the  bridegrooms  as  officers  of  the  pompous 
Governor  Echandia  exhibited  the  bravery  and  chival- 
ry typical  of  their  race. 

If  some  of  these  ancient  live  oaks  as  spectators 
could  speak,  what  tales  of  naked,  creeping,  swarm- 
ing, painted  savages  dancing  around  their  campfires 
and  munching  acorns ;  of  courteous,  pious  missionaries 
in  coarse  brown  habits  and  leather  sandals,  erecting 
the  Cross  and  performing  the  rites  of  their  religion, 
vying  with  one  another  in  the  number  of  their  con- 
verts to  Christianity ;  of  proud  and  haughty  Spanish 
officers  and  dons  continuing  the  customs  of  Aragon 
and  Castile ;  of  the  brisk  Americans  who  had 
no  time  in  their  later  generation  for  indulging  in 
leisure  ceremony,  being  forever  too  busy  accruing 
accounts  and  institutions  of  the  present  century  in 
awarding  the  gifts  of  luxury  and  knowledge  to  the 
most  active  in  their  pursuit. 

San  Luis  Rey  Church  with  monastery,  shops  and 
storehouses  formed  the  outside  wall  and  occupied 
about  four  acres  of  ground  including  the  plaza,  where 
the  Indian  men  had  organized  a  band  of  forty  music- 
ians and  gave  evening  concerts  on  the  plaza.  In  the 
center  of  the  courtyard  a  fountain  splashed  musical- 
ly among  the  orange  trees,  perhaps  reminding  the 
missionaries  of  old  Barcelona  or  Seville.  Olive,  pep- 
per, orange,  fig  and  many  other  varieties  of  semi- 
tropical  fruit  and  ornamental  trees  grew  in  the  gar- 
dens in  the  rear  of  the  Mission  buildings  and  a  large 
adobe  reservoir  contained  water  for  bathing,  laundry 
and  irrigation  purposes. 

In  the  stately  church  with  Moorish  facade  and 
lofty  tower,  are  shown  the  artistic  taste  and  execu- 
tive ability  of  Father  Peiri,  one  of  the  most  polished, 
cultured  and  genial  of  the  California  missionaries. 
Never  shall  we  view  his  beautiful  Mission  with  be- 
ing reminded  of  the  story  of  five  hundred  of  his  neo- 
phytes who  followed  their  beloved  Father  to  San 
Diego  and  begged  him  to  come  back,  when  he  de- 
parted from  California  at  the  secularization  of  the 
missions,  never  to  return.  And  in  imagination  we 
see  the  forty  Indian  musicians  drawing  sweet  sounds 
from  their  flutes  and  violins  at  the  plaza  on  moonlight 


evening's  in  front  of  the  noble  church,  surrounded 
by  an  admiring  throng  of  dusky  natives  and  en- 
couraged by  the  wise  and  loving  Father  Peiri. 

And  a  century  later,  as  we  view  this  * '  King  of  Mis- 
sions,"  w"e  note  with  admiration  and  a  sense  of  awe 
this  noble  monument  erected  by  unskilled  but  lov- 
ing hands,  and  this  lofty  church,  with  arched  en- 
trance, embrasured  walls  and  two-storied  tower,  dedi- 
cated to  King  Luis  III,  whose  ancient  grandeur  was 
worthy  to  stand  in  a  king's  honor. 

This  King  of  the  Missions,  who  has  been  robbed  of 
his  crown  and  kingdom,  yet  wraps  his  tattered  ermine 
robe  around  him  in  deserted  rovalty. 


BELLS  OF  CAPISTRANO. 


Oh,  the  bells  of  Capistrano 
Swinging  low  from  oaken  beams, 
Like  the  tides  adown  the  Arno, 
Rouse  the  echoes-bygone  dreams. 

Fell  the  bells  with  crashing  tower, 
When  the  temblor  shook  the  earth ; 
Then  the  men  in  startled  terror, 
Fled  the  church  and  comrades  dearth. 

Yet  remained  in  Capistrano 
Lowly  bells  on  leathern  thongs, 
Calling  all  to  paternoster, 
And  to  pray  'mid  dusky  throngs. 

Here  the  padres,  hearts  to  blazon, 
Sowed  the  seeds  of  Christian  faith, 
Winning  souls  by  gentle  suasion, 
Giving  love  to  Master's  wraith. 

Over  vineyard,  grove  and  meadow 
Float  the  sweet,  melodious  tones, 
Chiming  thanks  at  twilight's  shadow, 
As  the  plenteous  table  groans. 

But  alas!    The  god  of  Mammon 
Saw  afar  with  envious  eye ; 
Seized  the  wealth  like  Agamemnon ; 
Drove  the  monks  from  labor  high. 
Sits,  august,  Church  Capistrano ; 
Greed  has  chocked  her  ancient  arts, 
Like  the  weeds  in  fairest  Arno, 
And  the  love  in  red  men's  hearts. 

Still  across  the  field  and  fallow. 
Calling,  calling  far  to  sea, 
Weirdly  echo,  soft  and  mellow, 
Christmas  chimes  for  vou  and  me. 


STORY  OF  THE  BELLS  OF  CAPISTRANO. 


The  grand  Mission  San  Juan  Capistrano,  named 
for  its  patron,  Saint  John  of  Capistran,  a  Franciscan 
bishop  and  author  of  note,  was  built  without  regard 
to  price  of  land  per  foot,  as  it  covered  several  acres 
of  ground  including  the  church  and  courtyard  with 
over  forty  massive  arches  of  the  cloister  nine  paces 
in  the  base  of  each  arch.  The  blacksmith,  saddlery 
shops,  the  spinning  and  weaving  rooms  for  the  man- 
ufacture of  the  blankets,  the  storehouses  for  grain, 
olive  oil,  wheat  and  fruit,  the  dwellings  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  neophytes,  the  monastery  for  the  use  of  the 
missionaries,  the  guardhouse  for  the  six  or  eight  sol- 
diers, and  the  stately  church,  all  occupied  much  space 
in  the  mission  grounds. 

This  establishment,  like  the  other  missions,  was  a 
hive  of  industry  during  its  nine  years  of  building  and 
its  later  prosperity,  and  was  the  result  of  an  immense 
amount  of  labor  of  the  Christianized  Indians  with  the 
actual  working  instruction  and  example  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. The  square  log  rafters  for  the  roof  of  the 
church  were  hewn  on  a  distant  mountain  side,  then 
blest  by  the  Fathers.  The  sacred  timbers  were  placed 
on  the  shoulders  of  relays  of  Indians  stationed  one 
mile  apart  and  never  allowed  to  touch  the  ground 
during  their  passage  of  sixty  miles  over  trackless 
canyons,  deep  ravines  and  park-like  expanse.  What 
more  wonderful  exhibition  of  devotion,  of  the  neo- 
phytes to  the  missionaries  and  the  religion  they  in- 
culcated, could  be  asked  .' 

The  constructive  ability  of  the  Indians  was  shown 
when  they  built  seven  magnificieiit  domes,  or  seven- 
vaulted  roof,  and  a  bell-tower  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty feet  high  of  stone-masonry  following  the  direction 
and  work  of  the  friars. 

But  alas !  One  Sunday  morning  in  1812,  while  the 
neophytes  were  at  their  devotions,  a  temblor,  or 
earthquake,  shook  down  the  lofty  tower  which  crash- 
ed through  the  roof  on  the  heads  of  the  worshippers. 
They  fled  shrieking  from  the  church,  all  but  thirty- 


nine,  who  were  crushed  under  the  heavy  mass  of 
stone. 

The  tower  never  was  rebuilt  as  the  natives  held  a 
superstition  that  they  had  offended  God  who  sent 
this  punishment  upon  them.  A  lower  altitude  was 
arranged  and  the  sweet-toned  Spanish  bells  suspend- 
ed by  their  leather  thongs  at  a  lower  elevation  with 
no  danger  of  further  expression  of  wrath  in  the  for- 
mer manner  from  the  Deity. 

San  Juan  Capistrano,  standing  like  some  patriarch 
by  the  sea  whence  all  his  descendants  had  deserted 
him  or  faded  into  oblivion,  has  wrapped  his  ragged 
robes  of  vine  and  shrubs  around  him  too  august  for 
pity.  He  claims  our  admiration  as  we  approach  this 
stately  monument  of  past  devotion  and  magnificence 
where  the  missionaries  in  gown  and  cowl  once  paced 
the  spacious  cloisters  in  religious  meditation. 


SAINT   GABRIEL. 


An  angel  rests  on  fleecy  cloud, 
As  sentinel  of  San  Gabriel  proud, 
He  hears  below  a  thrilling-  prayer; 
A  mother,  young,  cries  her  despair. 

* '  0  Queen  of  Heaven,  Full  sad  wast  thou ; 
Thy  Son  was  brought  to  Calvary 's  brow ; 
Yet  hadst  thou  Him  for  many  years : — 
Oh,  spare  my  babe  my  bitter  tears!" 

"San  Gabriel,  thou  priest  of  heaven, 
I  pray  thee,  Saint,  my  grief  to  leaven ! ' ' 
Straight  flew  the  guard  on  pinions  white, 
To  gates  of  heaven  with  pearly  light : 

Saint  Gabriel  sought  at  early  night 
And  told  the  priest  the  mother 's  plight : 
* '  An  earth-child  cries  for  justice  due ; 
Saint  Gabriel,  she  calls  to  you: 

"The  governor  seeks  to  take  my  boy 
And  hide  him  for  her  soul's  annoy, — 
Revenge  on  her  who  scorned  him  while 
His  jealous  power  was  full  of  guile : 

"The  Judge  his  verdict  speaks  at  noon: 
I  pray  thee  reach  the  Mission  soon, 
That  husband,  wife   and  little  son 
Thou  re-unite  and  the  case  be  won. ' ' 

Saint  Gabriel  flew  to  his  white  church : 
The  governor's  law  was  left  in  the  lurch: 
'  *  United  thou,  thy  griefs  are  spared : 
"Bless  you,  my  child!"  the  Judge  declared. 

Saint  Gabriel  smiled  and  spread  his  wings ; 
On  pinions  white  his  way  he  sings : 
"Glory  to  God!    Let  angels  tell; 
In  peace — goodwill,  his  children  dwell." 


STORY  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  TRIAL  AT 
MISSION  SAN  GABRIEL  ARCANGEL. 


Mission  San  Gabriel  Arcangel  was  founded  in  1771 
by  Fathers  Angel  Somera  and  Pedro  Cambon  and 
was  the  junction  and  resting  place  for  travelers  pass- 
ing between  Monterey  and  Mexico. 

"The  Queen  of  the  Missions"  was  once  very  pros- 
perous and  was  turned  into  a  town,  where  the  neo- 
phytes had  built  streets  of  adobe  dwellings  adjoining 
the  Mission,  when  Governor  Echandia  issued  the  act 
of  secularization  of  the  missions  in  1833. 

The  Mission  once  controlled  hundreds  of  leagues 
of  grazing  lands  where  great  herds  of  cattle,  sheep, 
horses  and  droves  of  hogs  grazed  over  the  vast  San 
Bernardino  Rancho,  an  adjunct  of  the  Mission.  And 
one  hundred  acres,  including  the  site  of  the  Mission 
buildings,  gardens,  and  vineyards  were  inclosed  by 
hedges  of  prickly  pears,  which  gave  both  fruit,  and 
protection  from  hostile  Indians. 

Nothing  remains  of  its  former  greatness  but  the 
church  where  religious  services  are  now  held.  It  was 
built  of  stone,  mortar  and  adobe  bricks  and  the  im- 
posing west  side  wall  is  supported  by  ten  heavy  but- 
tresses crowned  by  a  pyramidal  coping.  This  coping 
was  capped  by  an  Indian  as  a  penance  pronounced 
by  one  of  the  Fathers  for  a  misdeed. 

The  picturesque  tower  is  a  continuation  of  the  side 
wall,  pierced  by  six  embrasured  bell  recesses  of  dif- 
fering sizes.  The  central  arch  is  pedimented  to  a  low- 
er angle  on  the  left.  This  belfry  is  admired  as  an 
architectural  gem.  Its  design  has  been  extensively 
reproduced  in  more  modern  architecture. 

The  old  stone  stairway,  shaded  by  the  fern-like 
foliage  of  the  graceful  pepper  tree  at  the  right  of  the 
church  leading  to  the  choir-gallery,  caused  our  hearts 
to  thrill  as  we  climbed  up  the  stone  steps  worn  hol- 
low by  the  feet  of  the  past  worshippers  who  trod 
these  stones,  leading  to  musical  elevation  of  spirit, 
long  ago. 

In   1829   a  handsome   and   dashing  American   sea- 


captain  sailed  in  his  trading-brig  from  Boston  to  Cali- 
fornia in  search  of  trade  and  adventure.  Being  an 
educated  and  well-bred  young  man  of  Puritan  ances- 
try and  Harvard  College  degree,  he  exhibited  no 
piratical  tendency.  He  had  arrived  in  the  pueblo  of 
San  Diego  only  a  short  time  when  his  patriotic  spirit 
nearly  entangled  him  with  the  suspicions  of  Governor 
Enchandia  whose  principal  anxiety  at  that  time  was 
watching  for  spies. 

A  wealthy  and  influential  European  from  Mexico 
City  with  a  Spanish  wife,  a  self-appointed  pleni- 
potentiary at  San  Diego,  interceded  with  the  irate 
governor  in  behalf  of  the  American  and  prevented 
the  comandante's  wrath  from  descending  on  the  ad- 
venturous young  man's  head  when  he  privately  as- 
sisted some  American  prisoners  confined  in  the  prison 
of  the  Presidio  to  escape. 

At  this  time  Governor  Echandia,  who  resided  in 
bachelor  quarters  in  the  presidio  at  San  Diego,  jour- 
neyed to  the  capital  at  Monterey  with  his  officers  and 
their  brides  in  his  retinue  with  dons  and  donas  who 
attended  the  fiesta  of  the  double  wedding  with  all 
pomp  and  ceremony  of  Spanish  nobility. 

During  the  absence  of  the  governor,  who  secretly 
admired  a  beautiful  senorita  of  San  Diego  who  cor- 
dially hated  him,  the  American  won  the  love  of  the 
governor's  undeclared  choice.  The  wedding  of  the 
couple  was  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  the  gover- 
nor's decree  issued  at  Monterey,  stating  that  no  for- 
eigner would  be  allowed  to  marry  in  California  with- 
out a  special  license.  The  couple  eloped  and  sailed 
with  a  shipmaster  and  his  wife  who  chaperoned  the 
senorita.  This  was  done  by  the  advice  of  the  self-ap- 
pointed pleni-potentiary  from  Mexico  City  and  friend 
of  the  American  in  whose  ship  the  couple  sailed.  Af- 
ter overcoming  heavy  obstacles  the  couple  was  mar- 
ried in  Valparaiso,  Chili,  witnessed  by  the  shipmas- 
ter friend  and  his  wife. 

The  American  and  his  bride  then  sailed  to  Boston 
in  his  brig  which  was  ordered  to  meet  him  at  Val- 
paraiso. In  about  a  year  and  a  half  the  American 
with  his  wife  and  child  sailed  for  California,  thinking 


that  Governor  Echandia  term  of  office  had  expired 
and  that  he  had  returned  to  Mexico. 

Echandia  retained  his  office,  owing  to  the  non- 
appearance  of  the  succeeding  governor  and  to  a  suc- 
cession of  intrigues  that  prevented  the  present  gov- 
ernor from  meeting  the  newly  appointed  comandante 
and  delivering  his  office,  and  yet  exercised  his  author- 
ity in  the  province.  He  immediately  ordered  the  ar- 
rest of  the  American,  and  his  lieutenant  removed  the 
wife  from  her  husband's  ship  and  took  her  to  lodge 
with  an  American  shipmaster's  wife,  whose  dwelling 
was  und;T  surveillance  of  the  governor,  again  separ- 
ating the  couple  by  his  jealous  and  revengeful  power. 

Father  Jose  Sanchez,  President  of  the  California 
Missions,  denounced  Governor  Echandia  for  usurping 
his  ecclesiastical  authority  regarding  marriages  and 
declared  he  would  arn  st  the  governor,  if  he  were  not 
so  near  the  end  of  his  term  of  office.  He  counter- 
ordered  the  arrest  of  the  American,  thus  removing 
him  from  the  drastic  revenge  of  the  jealous  governor. 

An  ecclesiastical  court  was  held  at  Mission  San 
Gabriel  Arcangel  by  Judge  Sanchez,  president,  of  all 
matters  relating  to  the  missions  and  to  marriages  in 
particular. 

Don  -Jose  Palomares,  the  government  lawyer,  found 
all  the  legal  flaws  possible.  He  believed  the  Ameri- 
e;m  guilty  of  piratical  offense  in  abducting  the  sen- 
orita  who  begged  her  betrothed  to  run  away  with  her, 
when  their  wedding  was  interrupted,  and  take  her 
away  from  the  reach  of  the  hated  comandante-»vn- 
eral's  impending  offer  of  marriage  which  her  parents 
strongly  desired. 

At  his  trial  the  American  plead  his  own  defense 
and,  by  the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  present  includ- 
ing the  shipmaster  in  whose  brig  the  run-a-way  cou- 
ple sailed,  won  the  case.  And  the  subject  of  the  in- 
ternational marriage  was  discussed  in  every  family 
in  California. 

Judge  Sanchez,  after  presiding  three  days  over  the 
s  ssions  of  the  court,  pronounced  the  wedding  certifi- 
cate valid  and  the  vindication  of  the  defendant,  with 
a  courtly  manner  and  boneh'ciont  aspect,  which  seem- 


ed  to  have  emanated  from  a  kingly  court  rather  than 
a  cloister. 

The  Spanish  wife  of  the  American  was  present  at 
the  trial  of  her  husband  and  devoutly  prayed  for 
heavenly  intercession  to  the  Madonna  whose  beauti- 
ful painting  with  a  sweetly  maternal  expression 
adorned  the  wall  of  the  sala  of  the  missionaries,  used 
as  the  court  room,  and  to  Saint  Gabriel,  the  patron 
saint  of  the  Mission  and  special  messenger  of  Heaven, 
in  behalf  of  her  husband  and  child.  The  mental  an- 
guish of  the  husband  and  wife  caused  by  their  separ- 
ation and  the  impending  verdict  of  perpetual  dis- 
grace of  themselves  and  child  were  averted  by  the 
righteous  judgment  of  President  Sanchez  at  San 
Gabriel  Arcangel,  the  "Pride -of  Missions." 

And  the  happy,  reunited  couple  with  their  child 
rode  away  from  the  buttressed  walls  of  San  Gabriel 
with  the  blessing  of  the  Missionary,  like  knight  and 
lady  of  medieval  times  from  an  ancient  Spanish  cas- 
tle to  their  ship  in  the  harbor  of  San  Pedro. 


THE  WEDDING  BELL  GIFT. 


The  court  in  solemn  conclave  see ! 
Judge  Sanchez  heard  the  lawyer's  plea: 
* '  Marriage, ' '  he  said,  * '  was  surely  nil : 
Certificate  not  signed  by  quill." 

The  father  rose  and  plead  his  case: 
' '  If  wedding  then  did  not  take  place, 
T  'would  sadden  life — my  heart  would  sink ; 
—My  child 's  disgrace — Your  Honor,  think ! 
"Pray — clemency! — My  witness  said; 
'  By  Chile 's  priest  he  saw  us  wed : ' 
—Your  grace  I  beg — You  've  seen  our  proof : 
Grant  us  our  due,  Judge,  from  your  roof." 

Pondered  the  judge  a  weary  night ; 
He  saw  the  parents'  desperate  plight: 
"Before  high  Heaven  I  do  declare 
You  man  and  wife  at  Chile  fair ! 

"Yet  to  be  sure  no  flaws  are  found, 
Certificate — down  to  the  ground, 
I'll  marry  you,  myself,  again, 
Next  Sunday  morn — a  happy  twain. 

' '  But,  having  scandalized  the  church 
And  left  the  governor  in  the  lurch, 
I  sentence  you  to  buy  a  bell ; 
Los  Angeles  needs  one,  so  they  tell." 
The  captain  sailed  to  Boston  town ; 
He  brought  a  bell  and  saved  a  frown ; 
His  wedding  bell  yet  sounds  with  power, 
In  fair  Los  Angeles  parish  tower. 


STORY  OF  THE  WEDDING  BELL  GIFT. 


At  the  Session  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Court  in  Mission 
San  Gabriel  in  1831  when  the  American  shipmaster, 
Captain  Henry  Delano  Fitch,  was  arraigned  for  trial 
by  Governor  Echandia  because  of  the  said  abduction 
of  a  beautiful  senorita  admired  and  secretly  loved  by 
the  governor  of  California,  there  being  only  one  law- 
yer in  the  province,  (and  he  retained  by  the  gover- 
nor,) the  American  plead  his  own  case. 

We  have  learned  in  the  story  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Court  that  Captain  Fitch's  honor  was  vindicated  and 
that  his  wife  and  child  were  restored  to  him  and  both 
parents  were  taken  back  into  the  church  and  that  the 
impend  ing  verdict  of  illegitimacy  of  their  child  was 
averted. 

The  flaws  found  in  the  wedding  certificate  by  the 
government  lawyer  were  that  "It  contained  neither 
the  names  of  the  cathedral,  nor  the  city  of  Valparaiso 
where  the  wedding  took  place ;  and  that  it  had  not 
been  "Vised  by  three  escribanos;  (examined  and 
signed  by  three  notaries)  nor  had  it  been  signed  by 
the  minister  of  foreign  affairs." 

In  the  meantime,  before  the  trial  and  shortly  after 
the  arrest  of  Captain  Fitch  by  Governor  Echandia 
at  Monterey,  Don  Virmond,  the  self-appointed  pleni- 
potentiary friend  of  the  American,  visited  Judge 
Sanchez  and  gave  bonds  for  the  appearance  of  his 
young  friend  to  appear  at  the  ecclesiastical  court  in 
San  Gabriel.  And  the  shipmaster  ever  afterward 
referred  to  him  as  his  "Guardian  Angel." 

Judge  Sanchez  rendered  his  verdict  after  a  session 
of  three  days  by  stating  that:  "The  lawyer  had  not 
substantiated  his  charge  of  distinct  criminal  offense  in 
the  defendant;  that  the  certificate  was  not  nil  but 
valid ;  and  that  the  couple  was  legally  married  at 
Valparaiso."  But  to  be  sure  no  flaws  could  be  found 
in  the  wedding  certificate,  President  Sanchez  re-mar- 
ried the  couple  the  next  Sunday  morning  and  pre- 
sented them  with  a  new  certificate  containing  the 
names  of  San  Gabriel  Church  and  the  Province  of 
California,  and  himself  signed  the  document. 


Following  the  verdict,  Judge  Sanchez  pronounced 
this  penance :  ' '  On  account  of  the  great  scandal  Don 
Enrique  (Henry)  has  caused  the  church,  I  sentence 
him  to  buy  a  bell  of  not  less  than  fifty  pounds  weight, 
for  the  church  at  Los  Angeles  which  has  barely  a 
borrowed  one  from  San  Gabriel." 

In  this  manner  the  wise  president  secured  the  first 
bell  for  the  tower  of  the  parish  church  Nuestra  Sefiora 
de  la  Reina  de  los  Angeles.  (Our  Lady  Queen  of  the 
Angels.)  And  all  this  power  and  wisdom  could  not 
be  contradicted  by  Comandante-General  Jose  Maria 
Echandia,  who  had  interrupted  the  wedding  of  the 
couple  at  San  Diego  and  separated  them  after  their 
elopement  and  marriage  at  Valparaiso. 

Captain  Fitch  sailed  to  Boston  and  bought  a  wed- 
ding-bell gift  which  on  his  return  to  California  he 
presented  to  President  Jose  Sanchez  in  gratitude  for 
the  Judge's  pronunciamento  in  vindication  of  his 
honor  and  the  restoration  of  his  wife  and  child  to  him. 
This  bell  yet  chimes  out  the  vindication  of  the  Ameri- 
can and  calls  the  faithful  to  worship  in  the  adobe 
church  opposite  the  plaza  in  Los  Angeles.  Little  did 
Captain  Fitch  dream  that  five  hundred  thousand 
Americans  would  follow  in  his  footsteps  during  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  later  and  occupy  the  City  of  the 
Angels.  And  the  captain's  bell  from  Boston  may 
have  sounded  a  mystic  summons  to  eastern  dwellers 
from  the  restless  Atlantic  to  the  shore  of  the  great 
Pacific. 

And  never  do  we  pass  the  old  adobe  church  at  Los 
Angeles,  founded  in  1814,  and  standing  opposite  the 
plaza,  but  we  gaze  upward  to  the  arched  and  but- 
tressed tower,  upon  the  first  and  largest  bell  which 
was  presented  by  Captain  Fitch  to  the  Parish  Church 
in  the  Pueblo  of  the  Angels. 


THE  WINEPRESS  OF  LIFE. 


In  rosy  morn  the  purple  grapes 
Drank  sunlight  warm — Fernando  shapes, 
At  eventide  the  fruit  and  leaves 
Absorbed  the  dew  in  Nature's  sheaves: 
Each  glowing  sphere,  a  perfect  life, 
Accomplished  work  with  ne'er  a  strife, 
Of  Nature's  art. 

Came  Destiny  the  reaper  stern, 
And  gathered  grapes,  the  keepers  yearn; 
In  Life 's  winepress  the  fruit  he  cast : 
From  out  the  grinding,  seething  past, 
Poured  liquid  rich,  the  life-blood  course, 
Of  Universe — emotion's  source: 
He  saw  the  signs. 

The  friars  planted  truth  and  vines, 
And  natives  gathered  fruit  and  lines; 
In  merry  glee  they  ate  their  fill, 
From  Padres '  store  beside  the.  rill, 
Attended  mass  and  said  their  prayers, 
To  keep  away  from  Devil's  snares; 
Saw  not  the  signs. 

"We  teach  the  truth,"  the  Fathers  said, 
* '  Or  reap  the  tares  when  souls  are  dead : ' ' 
With  tears  and  laughter,  joy  and  sorrow, 
The  vines  were  trimmed  anent  the  morrow ; 
They  danced  and  sang  at  the  Mission's  side; 
And  feared  no  cloud  would  e  'er  betide ; 
Saw  not  the  signs. 

The  reapers  came  by  light  of  day ; 
Drove  the  Indians  from  their  work  and  play  ; 
Seized  garnered  wealth  with  greedy  hands 
And  took  away  to  other  lands : 
Sad  natives  they,  their  homes  foresworn ; 
With  idle  hands  they  wept  forlorn ; 
Saw  now  the  signs. 


STORY  OF  THE  SECULARIZATION  OF  THE 

MISSIONS   ILLUSTRATED   BY  THE 

WINEPRESS     OF     LIFE. 


In  1797  Mission  San  Fernando  Hey  de  Espana  was 
founded  by  Fathers  Dumetz  and  Lasuen  in  honor  of 
Ferdinand  III,  King  of  Spain,  in  the  beautiful  valley 
which  bears  its  name,  twenty-two  miles  north  of  Los 
Angeles,  and  became  one  of  the  most  prosperous  of 
the  missions,  rich  in  grain,  cattle  and  vineyards. 
There  were  many  hundred  neophytes  living  within 
its  sheltering  walls  who  were  taught  agriculture  with 
the  arts  and  crafts  in  connection  with  lines  of  relig- 
ious instruction  (Catechism).  And  in  the  sacred 
ground  of  the  Campo  Santo,  or  Camp  of  the  Saints, 
(cemetary  between  the  church  and  monastary,)  rested 
many  of  their  loved  ones. 

The  vineyards,  fields  of  barley  and  groves  of  olives 
made  glad  the  hearts  of  the  neophytes  who  tended 
them  carefully,  according  to  the  directions  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. And  after  the  labors  of  the  day  they  as- 
sembled within  the  lofty  church  and  consecrated 
their  hearts  anew  to  loving  service  of  families,  friends 
and  tlie  good  God  who  gave  them  this  flourishing  val- 
ley and  fruits  of  the  earth. 

For  over  thirty  years  Mission  San  Fernando  Rey 
de  Espana,  with  its  workshops,  its  weaving-rooms  and 
its  storehouses,  grew  and  prospered  when,  suddenly, 
the  death-knell  of  the  missions  was  sounded  with  the 
h(,pes  of  the  missionaries,  in  the  proclamation  of  the 
Act  of  Secularization  of  all  the  missions  in  California 
by  Ex-Governor  Kchamlia  who  had  overstayed  his 
term  of  ol'fiee  and  authority  and  began  the  act  of  sec- 
ularization, or  confiscation  of  the  wealth  of  the  mis- 
sions. 

But  first  the  founders  and  guardians  of  this  wealth 
must  be  sent  away  to  execute  the  confiscation  with 
more  freedom.  The  hearts  of  the  missionaries  must 
have  ached  for  their  wards,  the  neophytes,  when  they 
realized  the  tremendous  disaster  which  had  overtaken 
them.  Some  of  the  friars  remained  at  their  posts 


despite  civil  authority,  but  were  dismayed  when  they 
saw  the  destruction  of  the  establishments  which  had 
been  the  work  of  years  of  heroism,  energy  and  self- 
sacrifice  to  accomplish. 

In  1833  occurred  the  death  of  the  "Most  beloved 
Father,  Ex-Presidente  Jose  Sanchez  at  San  Gabriel, 
of  a  broken  heart,  it  was  said,  at  sight  of  the  evil 
Governor  Echandia  and  his  followers  had  brought 
upon  the  neophytes.  They  would  be  turned  adrift 
to  shift  for  themselves,  without  protection  and  would 
degenerate  into  barbarism  with  their  wild  brethren 
of  the  hills,"  thought  the  missionaries. 

To  the  neophytes  a  little  liberty  proved  a  danger- 
ous experiment  when  removed  from  the  necessary 
discipline  of  the  monks.  The  Indians  had  not  drank 
deeply  enough  at  the  Spring  of  Civilization  to  con- 
tinue the  customs  taught  and  insisted  by  the  Fathers, 
and  many  forgot  to  repeat  their  prayers,  but  never 
to  venerate  the  Cross  whenever  it  was  presented  to 
them. 

The  regular  habits  of  receiving  instruction,  work- 
ing at  agriculture  and  arts  and  crafts  were  forgotten 
by  some,  when,  the  matin  and  vesper  bells  ceased  to 
ring.  And  the  agricultural  tools  were  uncared  for 
and  covered  with  rust.  The  natives  had  no  incentive 
to  work,  no  loving  masters  to  feed  and  clothe  them 
with  the  results  of  their  labor.  All  the  wealth  of 
grain,  hides  and  tallow  were  taken  away  and  sold  for 
a  price,  or  exchanged  for  goods  wanted  by  the,  civil- 
ians. The  wants  of  the  helpless  neophytes  were  for- 
gotten, or  waved  aside.  And  they  drifted  away  like 
autumn  leaves  and  sank  into  nooks  and  crannies  of 
the  earth,  cast  upon  their  own  resources  without  the 
comfortable  means  of  livelihood  they  had  enjoyed  at 
the  missions. 

This  noble  ruin  reminds  the  sightseer  of  a  once 
happy  and  nourishing  establishment  or  village  over- 
taken by  disaster,  pillaged  and  desecrated  and  the  in- 
habitants turned  back  into  the  wilderness. 

The  long  adobe  building,  yet  standing  and  over- 
looking the  fountain  and  crumbled  adobe  walls  of  the 
guardhouse  and  gardens,  has  been  restored  recently 


with  an  arched  adobe  corridor,  or  colonnade  leading 
into  the  monastery.  And  a  quaint  little  belfry  rises 
like  a  stumpy  chimney  from  the  left  end  of  the  arches. 

At  the  right,  beyond  the  monastery,  the  roof  of  the 
lofty  church  has  been  restored  by  the  efforts  of  the 
Landmarks  Club  of  Southern  California,  in  order 
that  the  winter  rains  might  not  penetrate  and  com- 
plete the  ruin  of  the  edifice.  Not  only  herds  of  cat- 
tle and  horses  and  flocks  of  sheep  were  plundered, 
but  planks  and  rafters  were  taken  away  by  desecrat- 
ing hands,  although  some  interested  rider  left  behind 
him  one  of  his  heavy,  clanking  spurs  in  the  debris  of 
the  church  floor,  found  by  a  later  visitor,  a  relic  of 
the  past. 

On  the  left  of  the  high  wall  in  the  interior  of  the 
church,  on  a  recessed  arch,  I  noted  the  beautiful  draw- 
ing of  an  elliptical  arch  perfect  in  its  detail ;  and  I 
wondered  if  some  artist-missionary  had  climbed  a  lad- 
der and  sketched  this  drawing  as  a  model  for  the 
decoration  of  other  wall  sections  to  be  executed  by 
some  ambitious  neophyte. 


PAGEANT  OF  THE  NIGHT. 


The  starry  worlds  in  vast,  unmeasured  spaces, 
Assembled  nights  at  their  accustomed  places; 
The  myriad  lights  all  shedding  luster  golden, 
On  purple  depths — the  curtain's  lofty  f olden, 
Night  drew  upon  King  Phoebus'  exit  brilliant, 
Beyond  the  stage  of  heat  and  light  resilient. 

Then  Luna  came  with  silvery  attendants, 
Programmed  divine  in  orderly  ascendance ; 
Buenaventura  witnessed  without  payment, — 
The  march  of  worlds  in  gorgeous,  golden  raiment; 
The  mystic  pageant  the  queen  of  night  illumed, 
With  Nature's  lamp,  the  Play  of  Night  resumed. 

Orion  fought  the  bull  in  glittering  tunic: 
The  Pleides,  in  clear,  harmonious  Runic, 
Enchanting  strains  inlinked  with  clashing  cymbal : 
The  Southern  Cross  upheld  the  sacred  symbol, 
Of  faith  sublime  and  tragedy  in  duty : 
And  Yenus  bore  the  cup  of  love  arid  beauty. 

Oh,  mystery  of  wondrous  evolution ! 

A  Universe  that  swings  without  confusion, — 

In  orbits  huge,  obeys  the  Master  mind, 

With  force  magnetic  of  a  secret  kind, 

That  paralyzed  man's  weakly,  boasting  voice, 

Proudly  proclaimed  in  egoistic  choice ! 

The  hierarch,  assembled  grand  in  place, 

Notes  man  a  mote  in  Planetary  Space  ; 

But  Indian  souls  entered  their  kingdom  yonder 

And  viewed  the  Play  with  ever  grateful  wonder ; 

As  oceans  crashed  their  symphonies  on  sounding 

shore : 
And  crested  waves  their  white  hands  clapt  a  wild 

encore. 


STORY  OF  THE  PAGEANT  OF  THE  NIGHT. 


Mission  San  Buenaventura  was  founded  in  1782  on 
a  bold,  rocky  shore  that  opposed  the  advance  of  the 
great  swells  of  the  Pacific  which  swirled  around  the 
Island  of  San  Clemente  in  the  Santa  Barbara  Chan- 
nel. Here  travellers  were  surprised  to  see  corn  and 
vineyards  growing  at  the  cliff's  edge  of  San  Buena- 
ventura and  beyond  into  the  canyons  of  the  moun- 
tains. And  here  the  Fathers  may  have  taught  first  les- 
sons in  astronomy  to  the  neophytes  and  pointed  out 
the  constellation  of  Orion  who  fought  the  bull.  This 
glittering  galaxy  of  stars  with  its  mystic  story  may 
have  appealed  to  the  imagination  of  hard-riding  va- 
queros  who  feared  no  animal  they  bestrode  and  train- 
ed from  tempestuous  freedom  to  obey  the  dictator 
with  riata,  spurs  and  bridle-curb. 

The  pious  Fathers  may  have  pointed  out  to  their 
pupils  the  Southern  Cross  (if  in  imagination  they 
saw  it)  and  called  attention  to  its  sacred  symbol, 
stretched  across  the  heavens,  for  higher  meditation 
of  the  religious  emblem  so  blazoned  by  the  Almighty 
Father  on  the  midnight  sky. 

And  well  might  the  neophytes  have  pondered  on 
that  mighty,  insensate  force  pervading  the  atmosphere 
which  had  written  on  a  stormy  sky  in  zigzag  streaks 
of  fiery  and  frightful  significance  God 's  unseen  power 
that  had  been  known  to  strike  men  and  animals  down 
at  one  death-dealing  stroke. 

And  who  could  fail  to  admire  the  beautiful,  full 
moon  that  lent  her  luster  to  lighten  the  dark  earth 
after  the  brilliant  sun  had  dropped  into  the  ocean  at 
the  western  horizon's  rim,  leaving  a  trail  of  flame  and 
orange  colors  painting  the  evening  sky  and  fading 
into  exquisite  tints  of  pale  violet  and  delicate  hues 
of  the  pink  sea-shell?  This  lavish  and  wonderful 
painting  was  done  by  the  hand  of  Nature,  or  Nature 's 
God,  in  less  time  than  the  most  ardent  nature-lover 
ever  could  have  accomplished. 

All  this  beauty  of  the  Almighty  Father's  handi- 
work may  have  been  viewed  by  the  missionaries  and 


their  wards  on  the  rocky  shore  in  full  view  of  this 
glorious  panorama,  presented  without  cost  to  their 
admiring  gaze.  Then  the  souls  of  the  Indians  may 
have  arisen  on  the  wings  of  imagination  to  greater 
heights  and  mingled  with  far-distant  worlds  undis- 
turbed by  petty  transactions  of  the  day,  as  the  waves 
of  the  ocean  reared  their  crests  and  dashed  against 
the  rocky  bluffs  in  reverberating  thunder  and  broke 
in  flecks  of  white  foam  far  below  the  watchers  on  the 
shore  now  deserted  by  missionaries  and  neophytes 
forevermore. 

A  town  has  grown  up  around  the  old  Mission,  which 
has  been  restored  since  the  earthquake  of  1812,  and 
bears  the  name  of  Ventura,  derived  from  the  Padres 
when  the  United  States  was  seven  years  of  age. 


SPIRIT  SWEET  WATERS. 


Among  the  mountains,   Santa  Ynez  gray, 
Sweet  waters  frolicked,  never  leashed  were  they; 
And  Spirit  Sweet  Waters  descended  the  hills, 
To  mingle  her  freshness  with  the  lower  rills. 

At  Santa  Barbara's  quaint  Mission  old, 
A  fountain  stood  high  to  receive  and  hold 
The  priceless,  pure  water  so  freely  sent, 
By  Spirit  Sweet  Water's  kind  soul  intent. 

Two  lovers  stood  near  the  fountain's  broad  rim; 
Their  eyes  were  lode-stars — those  above  were  dim : 
' '  A  cup  of  water  I  give  unto  thee : 
Let  us  drink  to  love  by  the  murmuring  sea ! 

"I  drink  to  thine  eyes,  thou  star  of  my  life, 
May  they  guide  me  ever  away  from  strife, 
And  the  music  of  thy  voice,  like  the  mountain  rill 
Shall  refresh  my  soul  through  life's  every  ill." 


STORY  OF  SPIRIT  SWEET  WATERS. 


Mission  Santa  Barbara  was  founded  in  the  year 
1786  by  Fathers  Lasuen,  Paterna  and  Oramus,  on  a 
shore  trending  east  from  the  blue  Pacific  and  shel- 
tered on  the  north  and  east  by  the  towering  Santa 
Ynez  Sierra. 

Here  the  ocean  breezes  are  tempered  by  a  softer  air, 
warmed  by  the  ardent  sun  and  the  verdant  valley 
is  lapped  in  the  mountain's  curving  breast.  In  this 
garden  of  the  Gods,  souls'  might  be  lulled  into  dream- 
land 011  the  borders  of  an  unknown  and  enchanting 
world  of  delight  without  fear  of  being  assailed  or 
awakened  by  the  rough  embraces  of  more  northern 
winds. 

Here  the  missionaries  built  their  beautiful  mission, 
the  classic  facade  of  whose  pilastered  church  with  its 
twin  towers  and  long,  arched  colonnade  stretching 
away  from  the  edifice  have  been  admired  by  hundreds 
of  travelers  from  distant  shores.  And  the  great  stone 
fountain,  carved  in  high  relief  by  the  unskilled  but 
loving  hands  of  neophytes,  stands  as  in  earlier  years 
holding  refreshing  mountain  water. 

This  water  was  brought  in  flumes  from  adjoining 
mountains  where  it  danced  swiftly  down  the  steep 
slopes  in  its  haste  to  bless  the  dwellers  in  the  valley 
with  its  life-giving  strength.  There  the  fairy,  Spirit 
Sweet  Waters,  may  have  sent  the  liquid  freshness  to 
benefit  earth's  children.  So  from  her  kind  heart  she 
murmured  to  all  the  little  mountain  rills  to  hasten  on 
their  charitable  mission  before  journeying  to  mingle 
their  freshness  with  the  great  ocean. 

And  many  years  later  in  1830,  Governor  Echandia  's 
gay  cavalcade,  of  prancing  horses  handsomely  capar- 
isoned, flashing  with  silver  coins  and  silver  mounted 
bridles  and  spurs,  carrying  the. haughty  governor  and 
the  officers  with  their  lovely  brides,  escorted  by  the 
leather-jacketed  soldiers  with  lanc<  s  of  steel,  halted 
at  Mission  Santa  Barbara  and  the  Missionaries  wel- 
comed the  governor  and  invited  him  into  the  church 
to  attend  vesper  services  while  the  soldiers  drew  in- 
to martial  lines  on  either  side,  through  which  passed 


the  Comandante-General  with  his  officers  and  their 
brides. 

After  the  devotions  in  the  church  and  the  lavish 
supper  of  the  missionaries,  the  officers  and  brides 
wandered  out  into  the  moonlight  and  stood  at  the 
fountain's  rim.  And  there  the  bridegrooms,  on  their 
wedding  journey,  pledged  themselves  in  a  cup  of  cold 
water  (sent  by  Spirit  Sweet  Waters)  to  be  guided  by 
the  musical  voices  and  luminous  eyes  of  their  brides 
in  lives  of  unbroken  trust  and  loyalty  throughout 
life's  journey. 

Mission  Santa  Barbara  was  dedicated  by  the  mis- 
sionaries to  Saint  Barbara,  the  Virgin  and  Martyr. 
The  imposing  stone  church  is  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  feet  in  length  and  forty  feet  in  width.  The  walls 
are  six  feet  thick,  strengthened  by  buttresses  of  solid 
stone.  And  the  stone-masonry  towers  are  ten  feet 
square,  having  been  given  added  strength  after  the 
earthquake  of  1812. 

Surrounded  by  the  mission  buildings  is  a  fine  old 
garden  containing  rare  shrubberies  and  trees,  seques- 
tered from  the  public  gaze.  The  wife  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  is  the  only  lady  granted 
admittance  to  these  secluded  walks,  filled  with  its 
religious  atmosphere,  as  the  meditation  grounds  of  the 
missionaries  for  over  a  century  of  time. 

The  picturesque  stone  fountain  in  front  of  the  mis- 
sion claimed  the  loving  labor  of  a  sculptor-neophyte. 
How  his  black  eyes  must  have  glowed  with  the  joy  of 
decorating  this  beautiful  and  necessary  concomitant 
of  life  which  held  the  liquid  freshness  of  the  moun- 
tainside. 

Within  the  church  the  gorgeous  banners  of  religion, 
the  rich  vestments,  chalices  and  other  sacred  vessels 
of  the  ritual,  together  with  valuable  books  and  records, 
archives  of  the  early  history  of  California,  have  found 
a  secure  place  of  preservation. 

The  name  of  Santa  Barbara  brings  with  it  a  spec- 
ial thought  of  the  dolce-far-niente,  dreamland,  or 
wave-lapped  garden  of  the  Gods,  where  the  sleeping 
beauty  yet  awaits  the  coming  of  the  magic  Prince. 


SENTINEL  OF  MONTEREY. 


A  cypress  leaned  far  o'er  the  sea 
And  branches  shook  most  threateningly : 
"No  nearer  come — ;I  guard  the  Bay, 
Brave  sentinel  of  Monterey ! ' ', 

The  breakers  roared,  the  cliffs  beyond, 
Sang  requiems  for  souls  once  fond: 
"We  come  and  go,"  the  white-caps  say, 
"To  sentinel  across  the  way." 

Still  watchful  stood  for  e  'er  and  aye ; 
Nothing  escaped  that  guardian  sway: 
And  balmy  breaths  of  cypress  trees 
Flung  fragrance  rare  far  o'er  the  seas. 

The  briny  air  and  fragrant  spice 
Lent  wings  to  thought,  in  memory's  trice, 
To  Carmelo,  last  resting-place, 
Junipero,  God's  servant  of  grace. 

Like  the  Nazarene,  that  Master  mind, 
Blessing  his  followers  in  kind, 
Who  sued  the  touch  of  garments  gray, 
Soul-sentinel  of  Monterey. 


STORY  OF  THE  SENTINEL  OF  MONTEREY. 


The  blue  waters  of  a  semi-circular  bay  with  its  daz- 
zling stretch  of  white  sand  lay  spread  in  the  embrace 
of  a  park-like  land  shaded  by  groves  of  live  oak  when 
Vizcaino,  the  Spanish  explorer  sailed  up  the  coast  of 
California  in  1602  and  named  the  glistening  waters 
in  honor  of  Count  de  Monterey,  the  viceroy  of  Mexico. 
Some  of  the  noble  live  oaks,  nearly  two  hundred  feet 
in  height  and  six  feet  in  diameter,  were  monarchs  of 
the  land  where  they  seemed  to  watch  for  the  coming 
of  that  Spirit  of  untiring  devotion.  Father  Junipero 
Serra,  on  the  shore  where  the  Pacific  ebbs  and  flows, 
tossing  the  spray  if  its  waves  high  on  the  rocky  bluffs 
and  falling  in  misty  spray  on  the1  dazzling  white  sands 
below  while  above  them  smiled  a  sky  of  Italian  depth 
and  softness. 

Over  the  rocky  cliffs  leaned  the  fragrant  cypress 
trees,  holding  their  wind-swept  branches  far  over  the 
bay  in  defiance  of  the  western  breezes  and  seeming 
to  proclaim  themselves  guardians  of  the  watery  ex- 
panse between  the  two  points  of  land. 

In  1770,  one  year  after  he  founded  Mission  San 
Diego  de  Alcala,  Father  Junipero  Serra  sailed  to 
.Monterey  and  founded  Mission  San  Carlos  de  Rio  Car- 
melo,  named  in  honor  of  its  patron,  Saint  Charles, 
King  of  Spain,  it  being  situated  on  the  bank  of  the 
little  Carmel  River  near  the  protecting  bulwark  of 
the  lofty  Santa  Lucia  Sierra,  and  named  in  honor  of 
Mount  Carmel  in  the  Holy  Land  which  it  was  said  by 
travelers  to  resemble  in  beauty  of  location. 

Father  Serra  was  enchanted  with  the  natural  beau- 
ty of  Monterey  Bay  as  it  lay  spread  in  the  protecting 
embrace  of  the  tree-clad  hills.  Some  of  these  trees 
grew  in  isolated  grandeur  surrounded  by  a  flower- 
embroidered  carpet  of  grasses  having  the  effect  of 
beautiful  parks  in  ancestral  estates  rather  than  a  wil- 
derness. 

Nature  seemed  to  have  prepared  for  the  coming  of 
that  Spirit  clothed  in  human  flesh ;  for  never  was  a 
man  more  spiritual  and  more  free  from  all  guile  than 
Father  Junipero  Serra.  God  seemed  to  have  endowed 


him  with  all  the  virtues  and  scholarly  traits  and  a 
zealous  flame  of  desire  to  follow  the  example  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  in  saving  souls  for  spiritual  happiness 
after  death,  shriving  himself  against  all  worldly 
thoughts  and  desires.  Always  he  strove  to  attain 
spiritual  perfection. 

On  the  lone  peak  of  Father  Serra's  meek  spiritual- 
ity dwelt  his  intellectual  greatness.  Had  he  been  a 
governor  with  civic  authority  in  place  of  a  governor 
of  souls,  his  executive  ability  would  have  been  known 
in  high  places.  Yet  his  modest  worth  will  be  written 
in  history  and  his  intellectual  and  spiritual  attain- 
ments be  proclaimed,  until  a  beneficent  halo  of  right- 
eousness shall  surround  his  name  as  first  and  most 
powerful  in  the  annals  of  California  as  the  years  roll 
onward  down  the  scroll  of  time.  Humanity  will  ac- 
cord this  conqueror  of  a  large  army  of  savages  a  lead- 
er in  civilization  and  Christianity. 

By  the  force  of  this  great  man's  piety  and  com- 
passion for  his  fellow-beings  he  established  nine  mis- 
sions, four  presidios,  and  two  pueblos,  leaving  a  peace- 
ful life  in  a  college  cloister  he  loved,  to  become  a  sol- 
dier of  the  Cross. 

After  founding  his  second  mission  on  the  Carmel 
River,  five  miles  from  the  Bay  of  Monterey,  this  gen- 
eral of  a  spiritual  army  marshaled  his  followers  and 
founded  other  missions  in  the  wildernesses  where  the 
savages  congregated.  San  Juan  Capistrano,  San  Ga- 
briel Arcangel,  San  Buenaventura,  San  Luis  Obispo, 
San  Antonio  de  Padua,  Santa  Clara  and  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  four  thousand  neophytes  were  won  to 
spiritual  attainments  while  living  in  these  missions. 

As  Father  Serra  chanted  his  Te  Deum  in  thanks- 
giving for  gaining  converts  from  the  powers  of  evil, 
he  was  the  inspiration  of  every  missionary  in  the  pro- 
vince. Footsore  and  weary  he  traveled  the  wilder- 
ness, buoyed  up  by  love  and  pity  for  his  fellow-crea- 
tures and  joy  at  their  deliverance  from  the  power  of 
Satan. 

And  here  in  1830  Governor  Echandia  led  his  bril- 
liant cavalcade  in  the  long  procession  from  Monterey 
to  San  Carlos  de  Eio  Carmelo,  when  Missionaries  in 
elaborately  embroidered  robes  of  the  ritual  upholding 


the  banners  of  the  church,  preceded  by  the  Cross- 
bearer  and  followed  by  the  Governor  of  the  Province 
escorted  by  haughty  dons  and  beautiful  donas  from 
distant  ranches  with  the  brides  and  grooms  of  the 
double  wedding,  entered  the  sanctuary  between  the 
martial  lines  of  the  garrison  of  Monterey,  and  cele- 
brated High-Mass  in  memory  of  San  Carlos,  the  pat- 
ron saint  of  the  Mission. 

After  the  celebration,  one's  imagination  yet  views 
the  brilliant,  colorful  procession  winding  its  way  over 
the  pine-clad  hills  through  idyllic  paths,  returning  to 
the  capital  of  Monterey  where  a  barbecue  appeased 
the  appetites  of  riders  and  pedestrians  from  San  Car- 
los de  Rio  Carmelo  hallowed  by  its  sacrificial  and 
poetic  memories  of  the  master-spirit  who  founded 
and  maintained  this  monument  to  religious  devotion. 

In  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  life  Father  Junipero 
Serra  lay  dying  in  his  bare  cell;  his  head  supported 
by  a  devoted  neophyte,  while  lying  on  two  rough 
planks  covered  with  one  gray  blanket;  he  rendered 
up  his  account  as  a  most  faithful  steward  in  the  vine- 
yard of  souls  to  the  Lord  of  the  Vineyard. 

When  the  neophytes  were  told  that  their  beloved 
Father  was  dead,  they  went  into  the  fields  and  can- 
yons and  gathered  flowers  as  offerings  to  his  memory. 

Comandante,  officers,  marines,  civilians  and  Indians 
attended  the  obsequies  which  were  conducted  with  the 
ceremony  given  the  general  of  an  army.  The  guns 
of  the  ships  in  the  harbor  were  fired  at  intervals  of 
thirty  minutes  during  the  day,  and  their  solemn  an- 
nouncement was  repeated  by  the  Presidio  artillery 
and  the  muffled  tolling  of  the  Mission-bells.  The  for- 
lorn neophytes  begged  for  a  shred  of  his  coarse  habit 
believing  that  holiness  and  healing  abided  in  its  folds 
through  the  prayers  of  their  loving  master;  even  as 
the  multitude  touched  the  hem  of  the  garments  of 
Jesus  and  were  healed. 

In  his  most  beloved  church  at  Mission  San  Carlos 
de  Rio  Carmelo,  the  official  residence  of  the  Mission 
Presidents  for  fifty  years,  Father  Junipero  Serra, 
President  and  leading  spirit  in  founding  the  Califor- 
nia Missions  was  laid  to  rest  beneath  the  star-shaped 


carving  on  the  facade  which  may  have  been  traced  in 
remembrance  of  the  Star  of  Bethlehem  and  accorded 
with  the  life  of  this  leading  spirit  who  lead  his  fol- 
lowers to  Jesus.  Here  the  admirer  of  mental  nobility 
approaches  with  reverent  footsteps  this  artistic  and 
venerable  monument  raised  by  the  Sentinel-Soul  of 
Monterey. 


PBONOUNCING    GLOSSARY    OF    SPANISH    NAMES. 


Agustin ;  Ar-hoos-teen. 

Aiyuntiamento ;    Ar-ee-hoon-tee-ar-men-to,  town  council. 

Avila ;    Ar-vee-lar. 

Alcalde;   Alcarl-day,  overseer,  or  mayor. 

Alta ;  arl-tar,  upper. 

Anita;  Ar-nee-tar. 

Arguello ;  Ar-way-yo. 

Arroyo;  ar-ro-yo;  a  small  stream. 

Baja;  bar-bar,  lower  (California). 

Bandini;   Ban-dee-nee. 

Cahuenga ;  Car-hoo-ayn-gar. 

Compadre;    Com-par-dray,  companion. 

Comandante;    co-marn-dan-tay.   Commander. 

Enrique;  En-ree-kay,  Henry. 

Bernardino;  ber-nar-dee-no. 

Benicia ;  Bey-nee-cee-ar. 

Boscana,  Geronimo ;   Ha-ro-nee-mo,  Bos-car-nar. 

Camino  Real;   Car-mee-no  Ray-al,  King's  Highway. 

Campo  Santo;  carm-po  sarn-to,  camp  of  saints,  cemetery. 

Carmelo;  car-may-lo. 

Gabriel;  gar-bree-el. 

Sierra  de  Santa  Lucia;  see-ar-ra  day  Sarn-tar  Loo-cee-ar,  San- 
ta Lucia  mountains. 

Temblor;  tem-blor,  earthquake. 

Jose;   ho-say. 

,Iuan ;   li\van,  John. 

Lasuen;  lar-soo-en. 

Loinii ;   16-niar,  hill. 

Majordomo ;    niar-yor-do-mo,  overseer. 

MigiH-1;   Mee-gwayl,  Michael. 

Xucstra  Sc nora  ;  moo-ays-trar  Sayn-yo-rar.    Our  Lady. 

Nui'stra  Scfiora  do  la  Soledid;  noo-ays-trar  Sayn-yo-rar,  So- 
lay-dsul. 

Xina;  neen-yar,  girl. 

Padre;   par-dray,  father. 

Patio;  par-tee-o;  courtyard. 

Pedro;   pay-dro,  Peter. 

Portola,  Gaspar  de;  gas-par  day  por-to-lar. 

Pueblo;  poo-ay -bio,  small  town. 

Pacheco;  Par-chay-co. 

Peiri,  Antonio;  an-to-nyo,  Pay-ee-ree. 

Pin  Pico;  Pee-yo  Pee-co. 

Purisima  Conception;  poo-ree-see-mar  con-cep-cee-on  pure  con- 
ception. 

Real;   ray-arl,  a  coin,  about  twelve  cents. 

Riata;  re-ar-tar,  lasso. 

Rancho;  ran-tcho,  farm. 

San  Antonio  de  Padua;  par-dooar  St.  Anthony  of  Padua, 
Franciscan  preacher  in  13th  century. 


n  Blars. 
San  Buenaventura;    bwa-nar-ven-too-rar.    Learned    Franciscan, 

13th  century. 

San  Juan  Beautista;  bow-tees-tar,  St.  John  the  Baptist. 
San  Carlos  de  Monterey;   St.  Charles  of  Monterey,  an  Italian 

bishop. 
San  Diego   de  Alcala;    dee-ay-go   day  al-car-lar,   St.  James  of 

Alcala,  Spanish  Franciscan. 
San  Francisco  de  Asis;   fran-cees-co  day  Ar-sees.    St.  Francis 

of  Assisi,  Founder  of  Order  of  Franciscan  Monks. 
Sotoyomi ;  so-to-yo-mee. 
San  Francisco  Solano;   So-lar-no,  Franciscan  missionary  in  S. 

America. 
San    Gabriel    Arcangel;     Gar-bree-el    ark-arfi-yel,    St.    Gabriel 

Arcangel. 

San  Lucas;  Loo-kas,  St.  Luke. 
San  Juan  Capistrano;  warn  car-pees-trar-no,  St.  John  of  Cap- 

istran,  Italian  Franciscan,  leader  in  crusades,  15th  century. 
San   Luis   Obispo    de    Tolosa;    Loo-.is    O-bees-po    day    to-lo-sar, 

Bishop  of  Toulouse,  French  Franciscan. 
San  Luis  Eey  de  Francia;  Loo-is  ray  day  Frarn-cee-ar ;   King 

of  France,  crusader  of  13th  century. 
Mateo;   mar-tay-o,  Matthew. 

San  Miguel  Arcangel;   Mee-gayl  arc  arn-yel;    St.  Michael  Ar- 
changel. 

Jose  Sanchez;  ho-say  San-ches. 

Santa  Barbara;  virgin  and  martyr  of  third  century. 
Santa  Clara  de  Asis;    San-tar  Clar-ar  day  Ar-sees,    (Spiritual 

Sister  of  St.  Francis)   St.  Clare  of  Assisi,  Founder  of  the 

Order  of  Franciscan  Nuns. 
Santa  Cruz;  Sarn-tar  Kroos,  holy  cross. 
Santa  Ynez;   Sarn-tar  Ee-nez,  child  martyr,  St.  Agnes. 
Santa  Lucia;  Sarn-tar  loo-cee-ar. 
Santa  Ysabel;  Ees-ar-bel. 
Santiago ;  Sarn-tee-ar-go. 
Sepulveda ;  Say-pool-vay-dar. 
Serra,  Junipero;   hoo-nee-pay-ro  Ser-rar. 
Soledad,  So-lay-dard,  solitude. 
Valparaiso;   Varl-par-rar-ee-so,  Vale  of  Paradise. 
Vaqueros;  Var-kay-ros,  Indian  cow-boys. 
Vizcaino;   Veez-car-ee-no,  Spanish  employer. 
Vallejo,    Mariano   Guardalupe;    Mar-ree-ar-no    war-day-loo-pay, 

Var-yay-ho. 
Vicente;  vee-cen-tay. 
Ybarra ;   ee-bar-rar. 
Ygnaeia,  Dona;  Don-yar  ee-nar-cee-ar. 
Zalvidea ;  sarl-vee-day-ar. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


